Piers Morgan on USA Gun Laws

By Annabelle Drumm

31 Dec 2012

Last week Piers Morgan was in the headlines due to a petition of 60,000 asking the government to deport him from the USA for taking a stand on the Gun Laws. “How dare he,” they said, “we don’t want British telling us what to do.”

They seem to have completely missed the point of what he was saying and decided to throw every last piece of judgement they can find at him regardless of the message.

Who has the right to an opinion?

I’ve been giving opinions based on my studies on various news platforms over the past week or so and have seen how little support any of them offer from their readership. It’s like a National sport in each country on these websites – Australia included – to insult whoever is giving an opinion by blasting some personal detail you know about them and that they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about.

Various “experts”, scientists or general pompous prats who write with overly complicated vocabulary are quick to knock an opinion without even asking where the information came from.

I get criticised for my country, the lack of letters after my name, my job description… I think if the auditors weren’t so hard at work culling the offensive responses I could certainly expect criticism for my gender, skin and hair colour as well.

In warning about the oncoming disastrous Winter for the Northern Hemisphere I’ve had some patiently explain to this ignorant (blonde) Australian that “in winter in snows up here”.

But when scientists – or the public for that matter – don’t have the answers they need, it must bring on a feeling of frustration. Quick to knock down any ideas they hadn’t thought of themselves or prickling at truths spoken, it must be even more frustrating if an idea comes from outside that might actually work. A bit like the little boy who asked why they didn’t have a hole in the top of the parachute when it was first invented.

So when did we stop listening to each other? Hell, we don’t even listen to our expert scientists who warned weather like this was imminent. What makes you qualified to speak and who must sit silent?

There have been societies in the past, I’ve been told, who listened to everyone. They do so for sometimes out of the mouths of babes comes the answer every one’s been looking for. They valued every opinion for those who don’t study the depths of all the mucky details of a topic can often bring fresh perspective and more easily use their intuition.

Egos didn’t play such a big role in who got the credit for the answers then. It was more important to find the answers and implement them to improve life as soon as possible.

That’s certainly a problem of our times, don’t you think? Ego. I wonder how many many times the truth or the right answer has been exposed but ignored in modern times by those who wanted the credit for themselves or who couldn’t tolerate such an honest observation from an outsider they couldn’t see themselves.

The Gun Laws are a complicated issue. USA is the most armed country in the world and the problem is not easily solved by making stricter laws. All those guns have been bought and distributed already.

I feel the problem is trust. That’s a truly difficult problem to solve.

The moment you have a few too many criminals using guns, you arm the police.
The moment you arm the police every other criminal feels they need to defend themselves.
The moment the public notice in the news more criminals with guns, they feel the need to arm themselves too.

It’s like removing the Marcos family from leading the Philippines. That action alone couldn’t remove corruption because by that stage everyone at every level lived by corruption. It was the only way to live at that stage.

So how does the USA get it’s trust back?

I believe the only way that will happen is through crisis. When life is threatened, people have to trust each other. It’s that or possibly die. When they come out of their houses to help each other, when there’s no time to think up how to take advantage (is that ever possible? I’m unsure) and when they give for the survival of the whole, that’s when trust is re-built and strong, loyal relationships are solidified which last years.

Is this Winter the moment they need to regain their trust? Again, I’m unsure, it’s a bit early to tell as the weather isn’t topping the headlines right now. I think if any crisis needs to happen I’d rather it be a natural disaster one rather than a terrorist one.